JP2588284Y2 - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal printer for printing symbols and / or characters on a label temporarily and successively attached on a backing paper, for example, by a thermal transfer method or a thermal method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a thermal printer in which one of a platen roller and a thermal head is disposed so as to be rotatable with respect to the other, to maintain an elastic contact state between the two, The support of one member on the rotating side is locked by a lock member having a hook or the like.

[0003] Therefore, a locking member designed properly is required only for the holding thereof.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to simplify a configuration for maintaining a state of elastic contact between a platen roller and a thermal head in a thermal printer.

In a thermal printer using a roll-shaped recording medium, the platen roller is separated from the thermal head when the recording medium is loaded (including replacement) with respect to the printer body. , The operation of interposing the medium between them and then elastically contacting them again.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal printer which does not require a unique member to maintain the elastic contact between the platen roller and the thermal head.

Further, the present invention provides a thermal printer in which the open / close lid of a portion for loading a recording medium with respect to the printer main body is closed so that the elastic contact between the platen roller and the thermal head is maintained.

[0008]

[Function] One of the platen roller and the thermal head is
In a thermal printer which is rotatably movable toward and away from the other side, when the opening / closing lid of the loading portion of the recording medium with respect to the printer body is closed, a part of the lid becomes a support for the rotating member. Is engaged with a part thereof and pushed up to elastically contact both action parts. The closed state of the opening / closing lid is also maintained by the reaction of the elastic contact.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

Reference numeral 100 denotes a printer main body, which is provided with an input / display unit 110 comprising a keyboard and a liquid crystal panel at an upper part thereof.
Further, the inside is composed of a ribbon loading section 120, a printing / transporting section 140, and a label loading section 180 from the top, and a lower section is formed in a battery housing section 190 for receiving a charge type battery pack.

[0011] Specifically, the ribbon loading unit 120 and the printing
The head side of the transfer unit 140 is integrally related. That is, reference numeral 106 denotes a common substrate pivotally supported by the main shaft 107 with respect to the printer main body 100.

Reference numeral 122 denotes a thermal transfer ink ribbon.
Supply shaft 124 and ribbon take-up shaft 1 disposed on
26, the guide pins 128 and 129, the main shaft 107, and a thermal head described later.

Reference numeral 131 denotes a support shaft 133 on the substrate 106.
The anti-wrinkle plate, which is supported by the spring 135 and is provided with right-handedness by the spring 135, exerts a resistance to the transfer of the ribbon 122.

Reference numeral 142 denotes a head support lever pivotally supported by the main shaft 107, which holds a head support base 146 on which a line type thermal head 144 is arranged, and restricts left-handed rotation on the substrate 106. (The state of FIG. 2).

Reference numeral 148 denotes a head cover plate mounted on the substrate 106, and a plurality of compression springs 150 are arranged between the head cover 146 and the head support 146 in the line direction. That is, as shown in the state of FIG.
Is in contact with the platen roller via the label tape described later, the compression spring 150 is slightly compressed, and the contact is in an elastic contact state.
6 is in a state where dextrorotation is provided.

Further, reference numeral 152 denotes a platen roller pivotally supported by a support shaft 153 on the printer main body 100, reference numeral 155 denotes a peeling roller which is also supported by a support shaft 156 on the main body 100, and reference numeral 158 denotes a printer main body 100. 159 is a reflection type sensor for detecting a label position attached to a portion formed as the tape guide 102 of the printer. Reference numeral 159 denotes a position immediately downstream of a printing section between the thermal head 144 and the platen roller 152, and a printer main body. A peel edge traversed inside the label issuing window 102 of 100.

Reference numeral 160 denotes a number of labels 16 on a mount 162.
4 is a label tape to which the label 4 is temporarily attached, and a detection mark corresponding to the label pitch detected by the sensor 158 is printed on the back surface.

Reference numeral 166 denotes a peeling set plate,
00, a support shaft 167, a temporary receiving portion 169 of the label 164, and a discharge window (upper edge formed of a sawtooth-shaped cutter) 170 of the mount 162, and a pair (on the front side of the paper) on both sides. (The side is omitted) and an arm 172, and a long groove 173 is formed in the arm 172.

Reference numeral 175 denotes an auxiliary roller opposed to the peeling roller 155 from below, and is rotatable in the long groove 173.
And it is arranged so as to be movable in the groove direction. Here
When viewed in the state of FIG. 1, the long groove 173 is
When the peeling set plate 166 is returned from the open state in FIG. 2 to the closed state in FIG. 1 when the peeling set plate 166 is returned from the open state in FIG. 2 to the closed state in FIG. Pivot point of roller 155 and peeling set plate 16
6 is formed in a relationship traversing the line connecting the pivot points,
Then, the auxiliary roller 175 has a spring 177 in the long groove 173.
Accordingly, the peeling roller 155 is biased in the pressing direction.

Reference numeral 182 denotes the label tape 1 wound on a roll, which is a recording medium for the printer body 100.
The opening / closing lid of the loading portion (space where the wound body is simply placed) 60 is pivotally supported on the main body 100 by a support shaft 183 and can engage with the maintenance control pin 108 of the substrate 106.
5, a finger hook 187, and a tape retainer 189.
In the state shown in FIG. 1, the shoulder 185 pushes up the maintenance control pin 108 almost straight, and the thermal head 144 elastically contacts the platen roller 152. On the other hand, the reaction force of the elastic contact acts in the direction of the support shaft 183, and the cover 1
The closed state of 82 is maintained.

Reference numeral 192 denotes a battery pack which has been charged and is loaded in the battery storage section 190.

The ribbon take-up shaft 126, the platen roller 152 and the peeling roller 155 are each driven by a single motor or one or two motors via transmission means as appropriate. Further, electric circuits (a control circuit including a CPU, a program storage circuit including a ROM, a data storage circuit including a RAM, a drive circuit for a thermal head 144, a drive circuit for a sensor 158, a drive circuit for the motor, and the like) are provided on a printed circuit board. They are put together and arranged appropriately.

FIG. 1 shows a state in which the thermal printer is in use. When the label tape 160 is newly or replaced and loaded, the opening / closing lid 182 is held by the finger hook 187 as shown in FIG. Rotate clockwise to open against friction. The friction is a resistance when the shoulder 185 is disengaged from the maintenance control pin 108, and as a result, the entire substrate 106 is placed in a state where it can be turned right.

Therefore, the winding section of the label tape 160 is placed on the label loading section 180 in a new or replacement form, and the leading end of the label tape 160 is interposed therebetween while the thermal head 144 is separated from the platen roller 152. ,
The opening / closing lid 182 is closed.

When the opening / closing lid 182 is closed, the shoulder 185 pushes up the maintenance control pin 108 substantially straight in the closed state to rotate the substrate 106 counterclockwise. The thermal head 144 disposed on the 146 presses the compression spring 150 disposed between the head support base 146 and the head cover plate 148 in a state where the thermal head 144 is in contact with the platen roller 152 via the label tape 160. The roller 152 is elastically contacted.

In response, the maintenance control pin 1 on the substrate 106
At 08, the shaft is pushed in the direction of the support shaft 183 from above, and the closed state is maintained.

In this state, if the printing operation is performed according to the data input operation, the label tape 160 with the printed label 164 temporarily attached on the backing paper 162 is peeled off, although it is different from the illustrated embodiment. The non-separ printer that allows the paper to pass through the edge 159 and be discharged forward (leftward) from the printer window 104 of the printer body 100 can be issued.

When setting the peeling and issuing mode in which the printed label 164 is issued while being peeled off from the backing sheet 162 each time, the peeling set plate 166 is not shown by a finger hook as shown in FIG. Hold the part and turn it counterclockwise to release it. The friction means that when the auxiliary roller 175 passes below the peeling roller 155, the auxiliary roller 1
75 is the resistance when pushing downward in the long groove 173 against the tension of the spring 177.

Then, the mount 162 from which several labels 164 of the label tape 160 sandwiched between the printing portions are peeled off is removed.
After turning at the peeling edge 159, the peeling set plate 166 is closed along the lower side of the peeling roller 155.

When the peeling set plate 166 is closed, the auxiliary roller 175 first comes into contact with the peeling roller 155 from diagonally lower left, sandwiches the mount 162, and thereafter rotates and resists the tension of the spring 177. And the center line in the longitudinal direction of the long groove 173 crosses a line connecting the pivot point of the peeling roller 155 and the pivot point of the peeling set plate 166, and the roller 177 is tensioned by the spring 177. 155 diagonally to the lower right.

As a result, when the auxiliary roller 175 elastically contacts the peeling roller 155 at the lower right position, that is, when viewed horizontally, the auxiliary roller 175
5, the upper side of the auxiliary roller 175 is located above the lower side, and the closed state of the peeling set plate 166 is maintained.

In the above embodiment, the maintenance control pin 10
8, the thermal head 144 is always in elastic contact with the platen roller 152 when the opening / closing lid 182 is closed. The mounting position can be displaced with respect to the substrate 106 so as to be retracted from the movement trajectory of the shoulder portion 186 of the opening / closing lid 182 so that the elastic contact function does not work when not in use.

Although the type in which the platen roller is disposed at a fixed position and the thermal head comes and goes is shown, the present invention can be applied to a reverse type of thermal printer. The present invention can be applied to a thermal paper type thermal printer using a label.

Further, the present invention can be applied to a thermal printer which performs printing / issuing operation based on information given from a reader or an external device without having an input means such as a keyboard in the printer body.

[0035]

According to the thermal printer of the present invention, the elastic contact between the platen roller and the thermal head, which sandwiches the recording medium, does not require a unique member. The configuration is organic and simplified because the lid is held by closing the lid and the closed state of the lid is also maintained. In addition, since it corresponds to the opening / closing operation of the opening / closing lid of the loading section which is inevitably required to load / set the recording medium into / from the printer main body, there is no waste in the operation. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of a thermal printer according to the present invention with a side plate removed.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state in which an opening / closing lid of a label tape loading unit and a peeling set plate are opened from FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Printer main body 102 Issue window 106 Substrate 107 Main shaft 108 Maintenance control pin 100 Input / display unit 120 Ribbon loading unit 122 Thermal transfer ink ribbon 131 Anti-wrinkle plate 140 Printing / transfer unit 142 Head support lever 144 Thermal head 146 Head support base 148 Head cover plate 150 Compression spring 152 Platen roller 155 Peeling roller 159 Peeling edge 160 Label tape 162 Backing paper 164 Label 166 Peeling set plate 169 Temporary receiving part 170 Discharge window 172 Arm 173 Long groove 175 Auxiliary roller 177 Spring 180 Label loading part 182 Opening / closing lid 186 Shoulder Finger hook 190 Battery compartment

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] In a thermal printer in which one of a platen roller and a thermal head is rotatably movable toward and away from the other, an opening and closing of a loading portion of a recording medium is performed.
Pivotally capped printer body, when closing the lid of that part of the lid is pushed up counter and away side where the pivot point of the support of the one member as a boundary substantially straight , Causing the one member to elastically contact the other member, and
Act on the pivot point of the opening / closing lid to maintain the closed state of the opening / closing lid.